The organisers of UK Security Week, the UK’s leading national security event, have announced a raft of high profile, international speakers that will deliver thought-provoking presentations at this year’s World Counter Terror Congress (WCTC) and Ambition conference.

Evolving terrorist threat

From 6-7 March, government officials, the emergency services and security professionals from around the world will attend the events – which will run concurrently during UK Security Week in London – to discuss the evolving terrorist threat and how emergency services can prepare for future atrocities.

Both the WCTC and Ambition will feature a number of exclusive, high profile international speakers, meaning that delegates will only get the chance to hear their invaluable views during UK Security Week in March next year.

International strategy

For the first time, the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) will participate in the WCTC

The internationally-renowned World Counter Terror Congress (WCTC) draws on global expertise from counter terror leaders around the world. This year’s programme will feature speakers from the most nations in the event’s history, with counter terror leaders of the UK, United States, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Belgium, Norway, the Netherlands, EU and NATO all confirmed to speak.

For the first time, the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) will participate in the WCTC. Grant Mendenhall, assistant director of the Counterterrorism Division of the organisation, will give a unique insight into how the organisation detects, deters and disrupts terror threats to the United States.

Conference speakers

Reflecting its standing as a truly international conference, security professionals will also be able to hear from Rob Wainwright, Director of Europol; Dr. Gerhard Conrad, Director of the EU Intelligence and Situation Centre; Chief Commissioner Michel Goovaerts, Chief of the Brussels Police; First Commissioner Jean-Pierre Devos, Intelligence and Analysis for the Federal Police Belgium; Superintendent Magnus Sjöberg, Head of Counterterrorism Process at the Swedish Police’s National Counterterrorism Council (NTR); and Gunnar Carlsson, President and Co-founder of Ayasdi – a US-based artificial intelligence software business.

The WCTC and Ambition conference will be complemented by numerous other conference sessions during UK Security Week

Emergency preparedness, resilience and response

In addition to WCTC, Ambition – the UK’s leading event for the emergency preparedness, resilience and response (EPRR) community – has announced its strongest ever line-up of global experts to discuss strategies on mitigating the impact of a terrorist attack. Dr François Braun, National Head of the Urgent Medical Aid Service (SAMU), France, will discuss the approaches adopted and lessons learned from SAMU’s medical response to multisite terrorist attacks in Paris.

Dr Robert MacFarlane, assistant director of Resilience Doctrine, Training and Standards, Civil Contingencies Secretariat for the UK Cabinet Office will also speak, along with Colonel Laurent Phelip, Commander of the Gendarmerie National Intervention Group (GIGN) for the French Gendarmerie, and Dr. Fredrik Bynander, Research Director for Centre for Crisis Management Research and Training in Sweden.

Conference sessions

The WCTC and Ambition conference will be complemented by numerous other conference sessions during UK Security Week, including sessions covering critical national infrastructure, cyber, special ops, keeping major events and borders secure, and how to integrate security at the design stage of major projects. Covering every aspect of the industry, it will be the most comprehensive security event, with the most diverse range of speakers, ever held in the country.

Richard Walton, UK Security Week Special Advisor and former Head of Counter Terrorism Command (SO15) at New Scotland Yard, commented: “UK Security Week’s conference programme will address critical issues in our preparedness and ability to prevent and protect nations, businesses and the public from future attacks. The speakers lined-up for next year’s events are leaders in their fields and no other event can match the expertise they will bring together. It is an invaluable experience for everyone working in the security industry and is not to be missed.”

In case you missed it

In a significant move for the video security market, BCDVideo has announced that it is set to become Dell EMC’s OEM partner in the video surveillance space. For nearly a decade, the Chicago-based company has been known as a key OEM partner of Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), providing storage and networking technology to security integrators on a global scale. This latest partnership will allow BCDVideo to take their offerings to the next level. BCDVideo Vice President Tom Larson spoke to SourceSecurity.com to discuss the reasoning behind the deal, and how the programme will benefit partners, integrators, and end-users alike.
Expanding BCDVideo's product offering
For BCDVideo, the HPE OEM programme has been widely acknowledged as a success, allowing the company to leverage a globally recognised brand and provide high-quality, reliable solutions across video networking and access control. Nevertheless, explains Larson, HPE server solutions are primarily suited to large-scale enterprise projects, and are therefore unable to accommodate for the growth in small- and medium-sized surveillance applications. The global collaboration with Dell EMC will allow BCDVideo to open up a broader product offering, building on success in the larger enterprise market to offer tailored solutions to SMEs. Our aim is to look at all best of breed technology to serve the video surveillance marketplace, and that means multiple partnerships”
Support for integrators
By leveraging Dell EMC’s sophisticated digital storage platforms, BCDVideo will now be able to offer a more cost-effective solution to integrators, without sacrificing the resilience and IT-level service that BCDVideo is known for. With access to Dell EMC’s expansive global sales and technical teams, the company hopes to expand its reach, all-the-while providing partners with around-the-clock technical support and a five-year on-site warranty. Customers should be reassured that BCDVideo will continue to offer HPE platforms, service, and support.
“Our aim is to look at all best-of-breed technology to serve the video surveillance marketplace, and that means multiple partnerships,” says Larson. “The addition of Dell EMC to our portfolio is a major win for BCDVideo, for Dell EMC, and for our integrators.”
The global collaboration with Dell EMC will allow BCDVideo to open up a broader product offering
Meeting surveillance market demands
At the technology level, assures Larson, Dell EMC’s server offering is well suited to handle the increasing video resolution and growing camera count demanded by the surveillance industry. At the larger end of the spectrum, the company’s Isilon Scale-Out NAS solution can handle tens of petabytes of data, making it ideal for large-scale security applications such as city-wide surveillance and airport security. Dell EMC storage solutions are already proving successful at major international airports including Dubai and Abu Dhabi, each with a camera count in the 1000s.Dell EMC and BCDVideo together are ensuring our customers get the right solutions designed for the surveillance market”
For Dell EMC, the new partnership means the ability to expand on this success in the enterprise market, leveraging BCDVideo’s surveillance expertise and high-level customer service to offer tailored solutions for lower-volume applications. Since its inception, BCDVideo has differentiated itself in the security space by providing a high level of IT service to integrators making the transition to IP systems. By combining resources, the partners will be able to service VMS and analytics companies, software vendors, and access control providers, as well as traditional business integrators.
Ken Mills, General Manager Dell EMC Surveillance, explains: “Surveillance storage is not just about capacity, it is also about performance and reliability. Dell EMC and BCDVideo together are ensuring our customers get the right solutions designed for the surveillance market.”
Accomodating for growth
BCDVideo is well placed to accommodate this anticipated growth. Last year, the company opened a new 51,000-square-foot global headquarters in Illinois, home to 90 separate stations within their Innovation Center where each system is customised according to integrator needs. The new facility allows for expanding business with new and existing partners in the security market.

Until recently, data laws have differed from one country to the next. This meant that for those organisations conducting business or protecting assets abroad, they needed to localise both their infrastructure and policies dependant on the country they were operating in. However, with the impending arrival of the EU GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation), which comes in to force on the 25th May this year, all of that will need to change.
Data management in CCTV surveillance
Surprisingly, despite the fact that much has been written about the impending EU GDPR, very little attention has been devoted to the process of ensuring compliance for the operation of video surveillance, access control and other physical security systems. The EU GDPR dictates that businesses adhere to specific governance and accountability standards with regards to the processing of all data.
As this includes such a large scope of data, any public or even private organisation using CCTV to monitor publicly-accessible areas must pay attention, as monitoring the public on a large scale is by default considered a high-risk activity. This includes information that shows who a person is, where they are and any other specifics about them.We have seen organisations defining corporate standards for their physical security systems based around IT standards and technologies
According to numerous market research studies, many organisations are yet to take the necessary steps in order to review the new regulations and ensure the necessary changes are made to meet these obligations. To date, we have seen organisations defining corporate standards for their physical security systems based around IT standards and technologies.
With the implementation deadline of the new regulations fast approaching, these should be in a better state of readiness, with standardised processes, common organisational approach and technology.
Enhancing industry awareness of compliance
What’s more, a lot of legacy systems or disparate systems are still out there, and these may still have been entirely commissioned and operated by location-specific security teams. Regardless as to where your organisation stands in terms of technology, it is important to participate in the GDPR review with a greater sense of urgency.
The EU GDPR dictates that businesses adhere to specific governance and accountability standards with regards to the processing of all data
Tony Porter, the UK’s Surveillance Camera Commissioner, has been incredibly vocal in recent months with regards to making security system operators aware that their activities will be subject to the GDPR and to signpost them to relevant guidance from the ICO. For those actively seeking to ensure their businesses are compliant, his organisation’s independent third-party certification is a great place to start.
However, with just a few months until the regulation comes into force, it is unfortunate that his organisation is not yet in a position to confirm this will be sufficient to demonstrate compliance with the EU GDPR.
Ensuring regulatory preparedness
With this being said, there are still a number of steps organisations can take to ensure they are well-prepared when the law comes into play:
Get involved in the GDPR discussion
If you haven’t already, proactively initiate a GDPR discussion with your legal team and ask for their guidance. Conduct a gap analysis to identify what works and what might require improvement in accordance with the new regulation. Then engage your consultants, integrators and manufacturers who should be able to advise on appropriate solutions. In the vast majority of cases, it should be possible to upgrade the existing system rather than ‘rip out and replace’.The appropriate use of encryption and automated privacy tools is a logical step
Adopt privacy by design
Under the terms of the EU GDPR, data that is anonymised or pseudonymised is likely to be low-risk. The appropriate use of encryption and automated privacy tools is therefore a logical step. For example, video redaction that blurs out people’s faces in video unless there is a legitimate reason to reveal their identity can minimise the dangers of having security cameras deployed in public spaces. Seek out certified and sanctioned organisations, such as the European Privacy Seal group ‘EuroPriSe’, a professional organisation whose purpose is to ensure companies meet the ‘GDPR-ready’ privacy compliance standards.
Consider cloud-based services
Owners of on-premises video surveillance, access control or ANPR systems are responsible for all aspects of EU GDPR compliance, including securing access to the systems and servers storing the information. However, by working with an approved cloud provider it is possible to offload some of these responsibilities.
For example, we partner with Microsoft Azure to offer these systems ‘as a service’. This pathway significantly reduces the customer’s scope of activities required to ensure compliance and is highly cost-effective. Yet it is important to realise it isn’t a full abdication of responsibility. You remain accountable for ensuring data is classified correctly and share responsibility for managing users and end-point devices.
With data laws changing around the world, businesses need to seriously consider how their security technology investments will help them manage risks in order to keep pace. With the GDPR deadline approaching, it is the ideal time to re-evaluate practices, partner with forward-thinking vendors and adopt technologies that will help meet privacy and data protection laws. This way, businesses can minimise risk, avoid costly penalties and be ready for anything.

How much does a security system cost? We all know that total costs associated with systems are substantially higher than the “price tag.” There are many elements, tangible and intangible, that contribute to the costs of owning and operating a system. Taking a broad view and finding ways to measure these additional costs enables integrators and users to get the most value from a system at the lowest total cost of ownership (TCO). However, measuring TCO can be easier said than done. We asked this week’s Expert Panel Roundtable to share the benefit of their collective expertise on the subject. Specifically, we asked: How should integrators and/or end users measure total cost of ownership (TCO) when quantifying the value of security systems?